The Green Eyed Monster
by mamapranayama
Summary: A monster is lurking in the bullpen at NCIS headquarters and is raising its ugly head. Tag to 'Jack-Knife' with some jealous Tiva.


_A/N: It's been a while since I've written any NCIS fiction, but I thought I give it a shot again. _

**The Green Eyed Monster**

By Mamapranayama

Tony watched the elevator doors close on one former Marine Corporal and couldn't help but grin, happy to see the back of that man disappear. Truth be told, he never liked the guy much.

It wasn't just the fact that the man had broken his nose nor that he was an admitted steroid abuser nor an ex-mercenary. No, what made his hackles raise the most was they easy way he made Ziva smile. It was enough to make his blood boil. He knew that Ziva, as his partner and co-worker was off-limits to him, but still, the thought of that guy unashamedly flirting with her grated on his nerves.

And then there was the hug and Kiss.

Sure, it may have been just an affectionate hug and peck on the cheek, but he hadn't been prepared for it and he hoped to never see something like that again. That's mostly why he suddenly blurted out afterwards, "I've got some friends in Ohio that might be able to hook you up with a job."

Werth had smiled and shook his hand, thanking him. But when Tony added. "Need a lift?" his smile lost any kind of warmth and he could see in the man's eyes that he caught on to his drift. It was best to get the man as far away as possible and hopefully never see him again.

Ziva turned her gaze on him and he felt his mouth moving and speaking before he could silence himself and he had to ask. "So, when he said 'see you later' he meant 'later' as in 'good-bye' or 'see you later' as in 'I'll see _you_ at a later date'?"

"Are you having trouble understanding simple English, Tony?" Ziva asked in return, a coy smile beginning to play on her face.

"Just answer the question." He asked seriously. When she didn't answer, but instead returned to her typing with that little grin growing, he knew that she was playing with him, but it didn't make things any easier.

"I'm getting some coffee." He grumbled. Not that he really wanted any, but he needed a moment to gather himself together again and get away from Ziva's smug satisfaction at his obvious discomfort.

He walked past her desk and flicked the ear of a sleeping McGee on the way, waking him up and causing him to jerk upwards with a bleary look in his eyes and a fine line of drool dribbling down his chin.

"Wake up, McDreamy. Siesta time's over." Tony ordered him grumpily as he left them behind.

Rounding the corner to the break room, Tony strolled over to the large, stainless steel coffee pot that reminded him of times when he was home from boarding school for the summer and his father forced him to go to church. While not a religious man, his father had found going to church a good way to make new acquaintances and speak to his various business associates and always at the end of the service he was forced to wait by that damn coffee pot while his father mingled, talking endlessly. His father had called it 'networking', but to a young boy it had been nothing but tedious and mind-numbingly boring.

Perhaps that's why when he pushed the little black spigot to get some coffee and pour in into his cup and nothing came out that he cursed the stupid thing with a loud "Dammit."

"Out again?" came a soft voice from the entrance to the room and Tony whirled to see Agent DeVries, a smart and well-endowed, blond who worked with legal affairs. She was mind-blowingly hot with legs that never seemed to end. With the black, short pencil skirt she was wearing, he lost all of his irritation at the coffee pot and grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah. I guess I'll just have to go and get a soda from the machine."

"Well, " She said as she came closer and Tony caught a whiff of her sweet-smelling perfume. "Why don't we just make some more. I could really use the caffeine right now."

"Uh, sure." He replied, putting on his most charming smile and when she returned it with one of her own, it lit up her entire face, making her even more attractive, if that was at all possible. He tore his sight away from her engaging blue eyes, and turned to the pot, looking it over. He'd never tried to make coffee before with this ancient monstrosity, but how hard could it be?

"Uh...uh...ah?" Try as he might, he couldn't even find the opening to the thing.

"Here, let me." Picking up on his lack of giant, coffee percolator training, she moved in closer and lifted the top off.

"Oh... so that's how it goes."

"Why don't you get the coffee can out of the cabinet and I'll make the coffee."

"Sure...uh, but I have no idea where it is in here."

"Oh, well it's down here." She bent over towards a cabinet down below, opening the door and reaching inside. As she did so, her skirt moved up dangerously high along her thighs and Tony had to bite his lip to keep himself from looking too hard or saying anything that might get him into a sexual harassment suit.

She pulled out the can of coffee and set it on the counter and got to work, taking out the old grounds, filling it with water and scooping out spoonful after spoonful of coffee until she had just the right amount and she started the machine. As it began to gurgle and percolate, Tony smiled at her cheekily saying, "Wow. I think you missed you calling. You could have made one hell of a barista."

"Funny. I was a barista for years. That job put me through college and law school."

The flirt in Tony couldn't help but be released when she grinned at him coquettishly and he turned up the 'ol DiNozzo charm. Perhaps just the thing he needed to get his mind off of Ziva and Cpl. Werth for a while was to find someone else to occupy his thoughts. After all, it had been a while since he had managed to snag a date.

While Tony joked and did his best to seduce the fine young blond, Ziva watched for the fifth time as McGee's head bobbed up and down, attempting to stay awake and work on his computer. But the slow blinks and constant nodding were beginning to bug the heck out of her.

"McGee. Can I get you some more coffee?"

McGee looked up, blinking his eyes rapidly and she knew he had just caught him in another one of his micro-naps. "Wha?" He asked.

"You cannot continue to keep falling asleep. Gibbs will catch you or you will injure yourself on your view-screen the next time your head nods. I am going to get you some more coffee."

"Nah...s'okay, Ziva." He yawned loudly and the next words out of his mouth were unintelligible as he tried to speak through it.

She just shook her head and got up from her desk. "I will be right back."

Heading for the break-room, she idly wondered what was taking Tony so long to get some coffee. She knew that he must have realized that she was only teasing him when she wouldn't answer his question. While Werth was a handsome man and she felt something akin to attraction to him, she knew that he had a lot of emotional and personal issues to deal with before she could ever seriously think of any sort of relationship with him. She was friendly with him, but that would ever be as far as it ever went.

Before she reached the break-room, Ziva heard a light giggle come from inside and she recognizedit as coming from that blond lawyer, Agent DeVries. She could also make out Tony's voice relating a story her before she heard him ask. "So, what are you doing Friday night?"

Ziva's eyebrows raced up her forehead and she stood off to the side by the wall outside the room where she couldn't be seen.

"Oh...I kinda though you and Agent David were..."

"What?" Nah...we're not like that." He came back quickly with an embarrassed laugh and from the sound of things he had been taken by surprise. "We don't date...I mean." Tony stammered with unintentional goofiness. "Of course,_ I _date...we just don't date each other."

He snorted a laugh again in that nervous way that Ziva knew meant that Tony was kicking himself mentally.

"Well, in that case. I'm free Friday."

"Great. We can get some coffee."

De Vries laughed and Ziva felt her skin prickle and face begin to frown into a grimace at the annoying sound. Ziva never really liked lawyers and now she hated them even more. That dumb blond thing was so cliched and Tony always fell for it. She wanted nothing more at that moment than to reach inside that woman's throat and rip out whatever made that high-pitched, irritating giggle.

Forgetting the coffee, Ziva stalked back to the bullpen and practically threw herself into her chair, pounding at the keys of her computer in frustration.

"I thought you were getting coffee?" McGee asked with another exaggerated yawn, unaware of her vexation. She responded to him through clenched teeth.

"There is no coffee, McGee. Just go back to sleep."

**The End**


End file.
